With only 3 couples remaining on last restaurant standing: Jess/Laura, and Grant/Laura will have to fight it out to see who is making it to the final show. This episode begins with Raymond telling an endearing story about his childhood and the first time he tasted fine food. He did not know it then, but this moment would change his life forever. He tells them he wants them to cook and serve their personal dishes in his restaurant. After seeing both of the couple's faces, he then says, this is meant to inspire, not terrify.
The couples separate to brainstorm their meals. They each need to come up with one appetizer and one main and they can not use the same main ingredients. The twins come up with a broad bean Bruschetta to start (Fava Beans to most Americans) and a seared tuna with couscous as the main course. Grant and Laura choose Cullen Skink (a traditional Scottish starter soup) as the starter and Pollock with fondant potatoes as the main course. The twins immediately joke with each other that they have it in the bag since Grant and Laura are doing fish for both dishes.
Lunch begins and it is a training period for "The 2 Lauras" at front of house. Meanwhile in the back, Grant and Jess are working hard so that Raymond can taste and approve their 2 dishes. As Raymond shows up to test the plates, Grant is sweating his face off. Raymond seems to really like the 2 dishes and he gives some tips for improvement so they will be suitable. To Jess, he says to marinate and grill the fish to give it more flavor, and also cook it less so it is juicier in the middle. Also to make the bruschetta more of a salad with fresh beans from the garden in the back. To Grant, he says to get rid of the smoked salmon because it is fighting with the smoked haddock in the soup. He also says to get rid of the potato and that Grant has the Scottish disease of needing potato in everything.
A break from the recap for a moment. As I said before, I really enjoyed this episode and for me it was because this was the first time that they truly focused on the food. For once they showed the food in a light that made you really want to eat it. It was also the first time you could see the creative process in the cooks' minds and how they came up with their meals with Raymond. I was feeling nervous for Grant and Jess and really rooting for them in the kitchen. This was a huge step up for them from their own restaurants and they seemed to hang on pretty well.
In the garden, Jess was inspired by all the fresh veggies. Grant, however, was having a tough time digging out potatoes. At the second tasting, Raymond is very impressed by Grant and he "isn't impressed very often." To Jess, he says that he likes the dishes but they seem to be missing a certain kick.
As we go into service, It seems like Grant is gonna Lose it. He is sweating balls and has a distraught look upon his face. The 2 Lauras are working hard in the front but we keep seeing clips of them messing up little things. I would understand them not catching these things because they are fine dining practices, not something they would be used to. At first, everything seems to be running fairly smoothly, but later on, we see Grant begin to mess things up. He is having trouble meeting deadlines and it is holding up Jess.
At Judging Raymond asks Jess, "was tuna the wrong choice?" She says yes it was because of the specific cooking time and how she often had to wait for Grant. "did Grant hold you up?" - Yes. To Laura, there were mostly good comments. Always smiling and friendly through the pressure. Grant had much worse reviews. He also said he is a pessimist and really had no hope the whole night. When asked why they should keep his restaurant open, he said that what they have created at Jacques Thompsons was a sketch of a restaurant, and with Raymond's help they could turn it into an oil painting. Jess and Laura's response was that they had always had dreams of opening a sandwich shop and café, and since the competition started, those dreams had become much more. Grant and Laura were closed, as we all expected for the entire episode and this was the first scene where I felt really bad as they shut off all the lights at their place. They did a really good job, but they definitely were not the best and it was time for them to go.
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